The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister have both praised today's inaugural meeting of the British-Irish Council. The Council includes representatives of eight administrations - Dublin, Westminster, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The meeting of the Council was followed by the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference involving Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair and members of the Stormont Assembly. Today's meetings put into place the new bodies created by the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Blair and Mr Ahern gave a news conference after the Intergovernmental conference in Downing Street. The Taoiseach said a paper on demilitarisation and normality was a matter of urgency. He also told RTE that the Patten Report is of fundamental importance and cannot be allowed to go down the political agenda. Earlier, the Taoiseach told the Council meeting, that the session symbolises the widening and multiplying of relationships which has taken place in recent times. But he stressed that the council would have to make a practical impact on people's lives.
British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, hailed the first meeting of the new body as an historic step in the quest for peace in Northern Ireland. He said the Council's discussions represented a significant step towards the normalisation of politics affecting Northern Ireland and would be a foundation for a more peaceful future. It was a sign of the changing nature of politics since the Good Friday agreement when Mr Blair greeted Northern Ireland's Health Minister Bairbre de Brun as she arrived at Lancaster House. This was the first time the British Prime Minister had shaken hands publicly with a senior Sinn Féin representative. Ms de Brun went on to join four other members of the new Northern Ireland Executive at the inaugural meeting of the British-Irish Council, although this did not include the DUP.
The Northern Ireland First Minister, David Trimble welcomed the establishment of the council as a defining moment for all the peoples of these islands. Mr Trimble said the coming together of senior ministers from across the United Kingdom and Ireland was a “revolutionary political development” and heralded “a new era of co-operation and understanding”. He said his party sees the Council as an important balance to the North/South links created earlier this week.
Speaking before this morning's meeting of the Council, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Mandelson, said that the jigsaw was coming together but that there were "still things to be done, not least decommissioning" and that a failure to decommission "places everybody at risk". Mr Mandelson told RTE News that he would not be pressured into making a premature announcement on the Patten recommendations. He said that the British government was "committed in principle" to implementing the report and that he hoped to make an announcement "early in the New Year".
The Council of the Isles, as it is also known, has no executive powers, it's purpose is to discuss issues of mutual concern and benefit. It will concentrate initially on five areas: drug abuse, which will be covered by the Irish Government; transport, which the Northern Executive will research; social exclusion; the environment; and electronic commerce. The next meeting will be in Dublin in six months' time. This week's developments mean that the last remaining piece of the jigsaw to be put in place under the Good Friday Agreement will be the Civic Forum.
